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19 <i>Open</i><b>BSD</b></a>
26 OpenBSD/vax runs on a large set of the VAX computers manufactured by
27 <a href="http://www.digital.com">Digital</a> (then Compaq, now Hewlett-Packard).
30 A mailing list dedicated to the OpenBSD/vax port is available at
31 <a href="mailto:vax@openbsd.org">vax@openbsd.org</a>.
32 To join the OpenBSD/vax mailing list, send a message body of <b>"subscribe
33 vax"</b> to <a href="mailto:majordomo@openbsd.org">majordomo@openbsd.org</a>.
34 Please be sure to check our <a href="mail.html">mailing list policy</a> before
38 <strong>The OpenBSD/vax port was discontinued after the 5.9 release.</strong>
41 <a href="images/vax.jpg">
42 <img src="images/vax.jpg" width="350" height="467" alt="VAX">
48 <h3 id="history"><strong>History:</strong></h3>
51 VAX has been a supported OpenBSD architecture since early 2000, when code was
52 synchronized with NetBSD's port. Being the second architecture to run BSD Unix
53 (in 1979!), it seems appropriate that these venerable vaxen should still have
57 The current codebase is mostly from Berkeley, with contributions of free
58 code from Digital, Mt Xinu, NetBSD, OpenBSD and others.
61 After the port was synchronized with the NetBSD codebase, fixes and improvements
62 were made, such as support for 16 partitions per drive, support for more VAX
63 models, improved emulation of unimplemented instructions, and so on.
66 The result of this work is an operating system that is stable
67 and familiar to any OpenBSD user.
71 <h3 id="status"><strong>Current status:</strong></h3>
74 Currently, all the hardware listed in the
75 <a href="#hardware">supported hardware</a> section below boots
76 multi-user, and supports enough of the on-board devices to be generally
78 Some models can only run diskless at the moment, though.
81 As of OpenBSD 4.0, most of the VAXstation frame buffers are
85 Of course, regardless of frame buffer support, a complete set of X clients
86 and utilities is available, allowing OpenBSD/vax machines to behave as X11
87 font servers, or run X clients on remote display.
90 There a few problems still left in the OpenBSD/vax port, though:
92 <li>The current compiler sometimes has optimizer issues (i.e. gcc -O2
93 produces incorrect code, while -O1 or -O0 work). They are slowly being
94 worked on as we are aware of them. Most code should work nowadays.
95 <li>Addressing limits in the pmap module. This can cause the kernel to panic.
96 Some of these situations have been taken care of and fail gracefully,
97 but there might be unfixed cases.
102 <h3 id="hardware"><strong>Supported hardware:</strong></h3>
105 The list of supported hardware below is not meant to be exhaustive.
106 Due to a limited inventory of systems available to developers,
107 not all hardware combinations have been tested.
110 As a result, OpenBSD/vax may actually run on your machine even if it's not
111 listed here, and we rely on your testing and feedback to keep this list up
113 To help us improve the accuracy of this list, <strong>PLEASE</strong>
114 <a href="faq/faq4.html#SendDmesg">send your dmesg</a> after installation
115 to <a href="mailto:dmesg@openbsd.org">dmesg@openbsd.org</a>.
117 <h4>Supported models</h4>
121 <li>VAXstation 3100/{30,40} (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
122 <li>VAXstation 3100/{38,48} (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
123 <li>VAXstation 3100/76 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
124 <li>VAXstation 35x0 and 38x0 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
125 <li>VAXstation 4000/VLC (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
126 <li>VAXstation 4000/60 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
127 <li>VAXstation 4000/90 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
128 <li>VAXstation 4000/90A (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
129 <li>VAXstation 4000/96 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
131 <li>MicroVAX 3100/{10,20}{,e} (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
132 <li>MicroVAX 3100/{30,40} (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
133 <li>MicroVAX 3100/80 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
134 <li>MicroVAX 3100/85 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
135 <li>MicroVAX 3100/90 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
136 <li>MicroVAX 3100/95 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
137 <li>MicroVAX 3100/96 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
139 <li>VAX 4000 100 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
140 <li>VAX 4000 105 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
141 <li>VAX 4000 106 (<span class=scsi>SCSI</span>)
144 <li>VAX 4000 {400,500,600}
145 <li>VAX 4000 {500A,700A}
146 <li>VXT2000 and VXT2000+
147 <li>Emulated SIMH VAX
150 <h4>QBUS devices</h4>
153 <li>KFQSA MSCP DSSI controller
154 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/uda.4">uda</a>)
155 <li>Emulex UC08 MSCP SCSI controller
156 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/uda.4">uda</a>)
157 <li>CXY08 DHV-11 emulating serial ports
158 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/dhu.4">dhu</a>)
160 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/qe.4">qe</a>)
163 <h4>Ethernet controllers</h4>
166 <li>on-board MicroVAX or VAXstation LANCE Ethernet
167 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/le.4">le</a>)
169 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/ze.4">ze</a>)
172 <h4>SCSI controllers</h4>
176 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/asc.4">asc</a>)
179 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/ncr.4">ncr</a>)
182 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/sii.4">sii</a>)
183 on-board SCSI on VAXstation 35x0/38x0 I/O module
186 Either one of the first two controllers are found onboard most 3100s and
187 VAXstation 4000s, as well as the VAX 4000 10x series.
189 <h4>Serial ports</h4>
192 <li>DZ*11 or compatible serial ports
194 href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/dz.4">dz</a>)
195 <li>SC26C94 serial ports on VXT2000
196 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/qsc.4">qsc</a>)
199 <h4>Frame buffers</h4>
202 <li>VAXstation 3100 on-board monochrome frame buffer
203 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/smg.4">smg</a>)
204 <li>VAXstation 3100/{30,38,40,48} color frame buffer option
205 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/gpx.4">gpx</a>)
206 <li>VAXstation 3100/76 SPX frame buffer, also available as an option for
207 VAXstation 3100/{30,38,40,48}
208 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/lcspx.4">lcspx</a>)
209 <li>VAXstation 35x0/38x0 frame buffer
210 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/legss.4">legss</a>),
211 without the 16 planes option
212 <li>VAXstation 4000/60 and 4000/VLC frame buffer
213 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/lcg.4">lcg</a>)
214 <li>VAXstation 4000/90 color frame buffer
215 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/lcspx.4">lcspx</a>)
216 <li>VXT2000 color frame buffer
217 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/lcspx.4">lcspx</a>)
221 The VXT2000 monochrome frame buffer, the LEGSS 16 plane option and the
222 SPXg/SPXgt options for VAXstation 4000s are not supported yet.
224 <h4>Input devices</h4>
227 <li>LK201 and LK401 keyboards
228 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/lkkbd.4">lkkbd</a>)
230 (<a href="https://man.openbsd.org/OpenBSD-5.9/vax/lkms.4">lkms</a>)
235 <h3 id="hwdocs"><strong>Documentation wanted:</strong></h3>
238 <li>Programming info for LCG, SPX, and SPXg/SPXgt framebuffers
239 <li>Software references for SHAC DSSI
246 <strong>Getting and installing OpenBSD/vax:</strong>
250 The last supported OpenBSD/vax release was
251 <a href="58.html">OpenBSD 5.8</a>.
253 <a href="https://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/5.8/vax/INSTALL.vax">
254 OpenBSD/vax 5.8 installation instructions</a>.
